Our day at the Nintendo World Store

I am sorry I write up how the events went for us yet. I got home yesterday and had a horrible headache...one worse then I have ever had. It was making me physically sick, and it hurt worse if I laid down! Must have been all that NYC air...but I am back to normal now! I'll fill you in on how the events went from the moment when the line started to move in the store.

After a night of sleeping on the street, and waking up early the next morning, we packed up our stuff and got everything ready for 11:00am. Finally around 10:30 the line started to group closer together, and inched its way towards the front door. By 11:00 the line started moving inside, and we were all getting really jumpy. Once we were standing next to the store, we could see a line snaking up the inside of the building to the top floor where Mr. Miyamoto sat. We couldn't see him, but we knew he was up there. A half hour later and one of our listeners Nathan came up, and filled us in. He told us about his bark mode time with Miyamoto, and that he received Miyamoto's gamer profile in his DS. There was also a special voice message from Mr. Miyamoto introducing himself and his dog Pik. Lastly, Nathan also received a limited edition piece of artwork from Mr. Miyamoto himself...all very exciting. After we dicussed that we also found out that Reggie was inside too! We turned around and yelled out to the crowd that Reggie was inside, and cheers erupted down the line. This would make the wait even harder!

After some more waiting we finally found ourselves inside the building, slowly making our way upstairs. We reached a point on the stairs where we could peer up onto the second floor and we saw the man himself, Miyamoto, sitting at a table. He had a man on his left and a woman on his right, both helping with translations. We also caught a glimpse of Reggie signing stuff for some fans. Soon enough we found ourselves upstairs and in the front of the Miyamoto line. Mr. Miyamoto appeared to be so happy, smiling and really listening to everything that the current person with him had to say. Then we hit the point where one of our own, Nicky Hill, was next to meet him.

Nicky Hill went up, and told me that he was so excited he can't even remember what he said to Mr. Miyamoto. It was nothing but smiles and laughing from Mr. Miyamoto, obviously very happy to meet everyone. After Nicky went John the Savage, who complimented Mr. Miyamoto and received the same warm welcome. After him was Mother Brain, who brought up a little piece of Miyamoto artwork for him to sign. The artwork was Mr. Miyamoto's head with a speech bubble coming out that had a heart in it. Mr. Miyamoto smiled so much at the site of this, and was more then happy to sign it. In the meantime I was in line freaking out, and happened to be standing next to Reggie while I was doing this. Reggie was in an interview, which I was DYING for to end. Just as Mother Brain was finishing up, Reggie's interview was over so I attacked. I screamed, REGGIE, REGGIE! and he came over. He shook my hand and asked how I was, and of course he was all smiles too. Just as I was about to speak, it was my turn for Miyamoto, so I made my way up to the table.

When I got up there, I was in awe...I couldn't believe I was meeting Shigeru Miyamoto. I thanked him, shook his hand, and told him it was an honor to meet him. I then professed how it was him that made me make the choices I did as far as a career in my life thus far, and told how he had influenced me to follow this path. He listened very intently, and smiled once I was done with the explanation. Then the man on his left asked me to explain my shirt to Mr. Miyamoto. I went through the Che Gueverra/Revolution explanation, and then he translated for Miyamoto. Mr. Miyamoto let out an OHHHHHH! and then began to chuckle. Just after that, Mr. Miyamoto burst out into laughter, and said something to the other two, and then they followed with him. The translater told me that Mr. Miyamoto was amazed by my Nintendo themed pants, and that he found them very amusing. As we were all laughing, I took back my signed copy of The Legend of Zelda: Collectors Edition, shook Mr. Miyamoto's hand, and thanked him again. I moved off to the side, had a little chat with the translator, and then was on my way. I had such a smile on my face, it was an amazing experience. Little did I know that while my Miyamoto experience was over...there were other Nintendo experiences to be had.

As we picked up our stuff and started to head downstairs, we were stopped to be interviewed by no less then 4 people. One worked for a college newspaper, one for the New York Post, one for their own website, and the last for Nintendo themselves! The man from Nintendo asked us plenty of questions ranging from where we came from, to how we have come to know Mr. Miyamoto. After he took a few pictures he explained that he worked for Nintendo and was taking the pictures back with him to Redmond Washington (headquaters of NOA) to show them to the people up there. Then he said that a lot of the pictures would be posted on Nintendo.com sometime in the future, so we might be up there! All four interviewers took the address to our site and said they would be checking it out...which is amazing! Unfortunately Nicky Hill missed out on the interviews, but he was downstairs having his own fun.

Nicky went downstairs after the Miyamoto meeting and met up with Reggie for the SECOND time. Apparently Nicky snuck in some Reggie time earlier and gave him the address to our site. Reggie promised to come check it out, and perhaps drop by the messageboards! For his second visit Nicky managed to get a one on one picture with Reggie himself, and nabbed an autograph.

When we all got back downstairs, I got in a line of few people to meet with Reggie AGAIN and get myself an autograph. When I met up with him I shook his hand and apologized for jumping the gun upstairs. He was extremely nice and took the time to explain that it was'nt a problem at all, he was more then happy to talk to us. I asked him again about the website and he promised to definately check it out. We figured since we would be leaving the store soon, so while I got my autograph, I asked if we could have a group picture for the website. He was more then happy to take part, and automatically put his arm around me. He was telling the rest of us to gather round and get close in. Nicky Hill had asked if we should put down all our bags and such, but Reggie said, "No way! Keep all that stuff on ya, get out the chairs you brought! You guys slept here all night, keep the stuff with you to show it off!" And just like that, the picture was taken, we shaked hands, thanked him, and were on our way.

Everyone that we met while in the store was so extremely nice, especially Reggie and Miyamoto. They really made you feel that they cared about you, and really were happy that you came. We met a lot of other great people while waiting in line, and we stopped by to say our goodbyes with them. After wishing everyone a safe trip home, we started to walk back to our car. The line that once was 10 people long now stretched for many many MANY blocks. As we were making our way back, people in line chanted," H-CORE, H-CORE!" referring to how hardcore we were for sleeping outside. We would also pass along the news that Reggie was also inside, sending waves of screams down the street. The whole experience was amazing, and I can't thank Mr. Miyamoto enough for taking the time to come to the US and do this for us. A equally important thank you to Reggie and the rest of the Nintendo staff for taking time out with us. Lastly I would like to thank our fans, and the friends we made while we were there, you have made a lasting impression, and will survive in our great memories of this weekend. You all made this weekend one of the best weekends ever.